Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with both types of diabetes and the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) worldwide. The classical, ...five-stage natural history of DN, after an initial phase of hyperfiltration, is characterized by a progressive increase of albuminuria from normoalbuminuria to proteinuria, followed by a decline of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Accumulating evidence indicates that clinical course of DN has changed profoundly, likely as a consequence of changes in treatment. In fact, remission/regression of microalbuminuria is a common feature of both type 1 and 2 diabetes which far outweighs progression to proteinuria. Moreover, GFR loss has been shown to occur independently of albuminuria or even in the absence of it. Nonalbuminuric renal impairment probably represents a different pathway to loss of renal function, which might recognize different pathogenic mechanisms, prognostic implications, and possibly therapeutic measures, as compared with the albuminuric pathway. The nonalbuminuric phenotype might be related to macroangiopathy instead of microangiopathy and/or be the consequence of repeated and/or unresolved episodes of acute kidney injury, even of mild degree. Reduced GFR and albuminuria are both powerful risk factor for cardiovascular events, whereas albuminuria appears to predict death and progression to ESRD better than GFR loss. Finally, it is unclear whether reduced GFR and albuminuria warrant different interventions and whether GFR decline may also regress in response to treatment, as proteinuria does. Further epidemiological, pathologic, pathophysiological, and intervention studies are needed to clarify the distinctive features of nonalbuminuric renal impairment.
Highlights • MSI is detectable in about 15% of CRCs. • MSI can be found both in sporadic and hereditary CRCs. • Lynch syndrome is the most frequent cause of heritable CRC. • In early-stage CRCs, MSI ...probably can predict a favourable prognosis and resistance to 5-FU. • In early clinical trials with anti-PD-1, MSI-H colorectal cancer showed impressive results.
Abstract Vascular calcification is an unfavorable event in the natural history of atherosclerosis that predicts cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, increasing evidence suggests that ...different calcification patterns are associated with different or even opposite histopathological and clinical features, reflecting the dual relationship between inflammation and calcification. In fact, initial calcium deposition in response to pro-inflammatory stimuli results in the formation of spotty or granular calcification (“microcalcification”), which induces further inflammation. This vicious cycle favors plaque rupture, unless an adaptive response prevails, with blunting of inflammation and survival of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). VSMCs promote fibrosis and also undergo osteogenic transdifferentiation, with formation of homogeneous or sheet-like calcification (“macrocalcification”), that stabilizes the plaque by serving as a barrier towards inflammation. Unfortunately, little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating this adaptive response. The advanced glycation/lipoxidation endproducts (AGEs/ALEs) have been shown to promote vascular calcification and atherosclerosis. Recent evidence suggests that two AGE/ALE receptors, RAGE and galectin-3, modulate in divergent ways, not only inflammation, but also vascular osteogenesis, by favoring “microcalcification” and “macrocalcification”, respectively. Galectin-3 seems essential for VSMC transdifferentiation into osteoblast-like cells via direct modulation of the WNT-β-catenin signaling, thus driving formation of “macrocalcification”, whereas RAGE favors deposition of “microcalcification” by promoting and perpetuating inflammation and by counteracting the osteoblastogenic effect of galectin-3. Further studies are required to understand the molecular mechanisms regulating transition from “microcalcification” to “macrocalcification”, thus allowing to design therapeutic strategies which favor this adaptive process, in order to limit the adverse effects of established atherosclerotic calcification.
Twenty years have passed since Brownlee and colleagues proposed a single unifying mechanism for diabetic complications, introducing a turning point in this field of research. For the first time, ...reactive oxygen species (ROS) were identified as the causal link between hyperglycemia and four seemingly independent pathways that are involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes-associated vascular disease. Before and after this milestone in diabetes research, hundreds of articles describe a role for ROS, but the failure of clinical trials to demonstrate antioxidant benefits and some recent experimental studies showing that ROS are dispensable for the pathogenesis of diabetic complications call for time to reflect. This twenty-year journey focuses on the most relevant literature regarding the main sources of ROS generation in diabetes and their role in the pathogenesis of cell dysfunction and diabetic complications. To identify future research directions, this review discusses the evidence in favor and against oxidative stress as an initial event in the cellular biochemical abnormalities induced by hyperglycemia. It also explores possible alternative mechanisms, including carbonyl stress and the Warburg effect, linking glucose and lipid excess, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the activation of alternative pathways of glucose metabolism leading to vascular cell injury and inflammation.
Both type 2 (T2DM) and type 1 (T1DM) diabetes mellitus confer an increased risk of pancreatic cancer in humans. The magnitude and temporal trajectory of the risk conferred by the two forms of ...diabetes are similar, suggesting a common mechanism. Carbonyl stress is a hallmark of hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, which accompanies T2DM, prediabetes, and obesity. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that diabetes promotes pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in experimental models of T2DM, a finding recently confirmed in a T1DM model. The carbonyl stress markers advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), the levels of which are increased in diabetes, were shown to markedly accelerate tumor development in a mouse model of Kras-driven PDAC. Consistently, inhibition of AGE formation by trapping their carbonyl precursors (i.e., reactive carbonyl species, RCS) prevented the PDAC-promoting effect of diabetes. Considering the growing attention on carbonyl stress in the onset and progression of several cancers, including breast, lung and colorectal cancer, this review discusses the mechanisms by which glucose and lipid imbalances induce a status of carbonyl stress, the oncogenic pathways activated by AGEs and their precursors RCS, and the potential use of carbonyl-scavenging agents and AGE inhibitors in PDAC prevention and treatment, particularly in high-risk diabetic individuals.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) ranks seventh as a cause of death worldwide. Chronic complications, including cardiovascular, renal, and eye disease, as well as DM-associated non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ...(NAFLD) account for most of the morbidity and premature mortality in DM. Despite continuous improvements in the management of late complications of DM, significant gaps remain. Therefore, searching for additional strategies to prevent these serious DM-related conditions is of the utmost importance. DM is characterized by a state of low-grade chronic inflammation, which is critical in the progression of complications. Recent clinical trials indicate that targeting the prototypic pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1 β) improves the outcomes of cardiovascular disease, which is the first cause of death in DM patients. Together with IL-18, IL-1β is processed and secreted by the inflammasomes, a class of multiprotein complexes that coordinate inflammatory responses. Several DM-related metabolic factors, including reactive oxygen species, glyco/lipoxidation end products, and cholesterol crystals, have been involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic kidney disease, and diabetic retinopathy, and in the promoting effect of DM on the onset and progression of atherosclerosis and NAFLD. These metabolic factors are also well-established danger signals capable of regulating inflammasome activity. In addition to presenting the current state of knowledge, this review discusses how the mechanistic understanding of inflammasome regulation by metabolic danger signals may hopefully lead to novel therapeutic strategies targeting inflammation for a more effective treatment of diabetic complications.
The hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), a key player in the adaptive regulation of energy metabolism, and the M2 isoform of the glycolytic enzyme pyruvate kinase (PKM2), a critical regulator of ...glucose consumption, are the main drivers of the metabolic rewiring in cancer cells. The use of glycolysis rather than oxidative phosphorylation, even in the presence of oxygen (i.e., Warburg effect or aerobic glycolysis), is a major metabolic hallmark of cancer. Aerobic glycolysis is also important for the immune system, which is involved in both metabolic disorders development and tumorigenesis. More recently, metabolic changes resembling the Warburg effect have been described in diabetes mellitus (DM). Scientists from different disciplines are looking for ways to interfere with these cellular metabolic rearrangements and reverse the pathological processes underlying their disease of interest. As cancer is overtaking cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of excess death in DM, and biological links between DM and cancer are incompletely understood, cellular glucose metabolism may be a promising field to explore in search of connections between cardiometabolic and cancer diseases. In this mini-review, we present the state-of-the-art on the role of the Warburg effect, HIF-1α, and PKM2 in cancer, inflammation, and DM to encourage multidisciplinary research to advance fundamental understanding in biology and pathways implicated in the link between DM and cancer.
Low-grade inflammation is a characteristic of the obese state, and adipose tissue releases many inflammatory mediators. The source of these mediators within adipose tissue is not clear, but ...infiltrating macrophages seem to be especially important, although adipocytes themselves play a role. Obese people have higher circulating concentrations of many inflammatory markers than lean people do, and these are believed to play a role in causing insulin resistance and other metabolic disturbances. Blood concentrations of inflammatory markers are lowered following weight loss. In the hours following the consumption of a meal, there is an elevation in the concentrations of inflammatory mediators in the bloodstream, which is exaggerated in obese subjects and in type 2 diabetics. Both high-glucose and high-fat meals may induce postprandial inflammation, and this is exaggerated by a high meal content of advanced glycation end products (AGE) and partly ablated by inclusion of certain antioxidants or antioxidant-containing foods within the meal. Healthy eating patterns are associated with lower circulating concentrations of inflammatory markers. Among the components of a healthy diet, whole grains, vegetables and fruits, and fish are all associated with lower inflammation. AGE are associated with enhanced oxidative stress and inflammation. SFA and trans-MUFA are pro-inflammatory, while PUFA, especially long-chain n-3 PUFA, are anti-inflammatory. Hyperglycaemia induces both postprandial and chronic low-grade inflammation. Vitamin C, vitamin E and carotenoids decrease the circulating concentrations of inflammatory markers. Potential mechanisms are described and research gaps, which limit our understanding of the interaction between diet and postprandial and chronic low-grade inflammation, are identified.
The (pro)renin receptor ((P)RR), a versatile protein found in various organs, including the kidney, is implicated in cardiometabolic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, ...potentially contributing to organ damage. Importantly, changes in (pro)renin/(P)RR system localization during renal injury, a critical information base, remain unexplored. This study investigates the expression and topographic localization of the full length (FL)-(P)RR, its ligands (renin and prorenin), and its target cyclooxygenase-2 and found that they are upregulated in three distinct animal models of renal injury. The protein expression of these targets, initially confined to specific tubular renal cell types in control animals, increases in renal injury models, extending to glomerular cells. (P)RR gene expression correlates with protein changes in a genetic model of focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis. However, in diabetic and high-fat-fed mice, (P)RR mRNA levels contradict FL-(P)RR immunoreactivity. Research on diabetic mice kidneys and human podocytes exposed to diabetic glucose levels suggests that this inconsistency may result from disrupted intracellular (P)RR processing, likely due to increased Munc18-1 interacting protein 3. It follows that changes in FL-(P)RR cellular content mechanisms are specific to renal disease etiology, emphasizing the need for consideration in future studies exploring this receptor's involvement in renal damage of different origins.
It is unclear whether insulin resistance (IR) contributes to excess mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes independent of diabetic kidney disease (DKD), which is strongly associated with IR and ...is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), the main cause of death in these individuals. We tested this hypothesis in patients with type 2 diabetes from the Renal Insufficiency And Cardiovascular Events Italian Multicentre Study.
This observational, prospective, cohort study enrolled 15,773 patients with type 2 diabetes attending 19 Italian Diabetes Clinics in 2006-2008. Insulin sensitivity was assessed as estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR), which was validated against the euglycaemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp technique. Vital status on October 31, 2015, was retrieved for 15,656 patients (99.3%). Participants were stratified by eGDR tertiles from T1 (≥ 5.35 mg/kg/min) to T3 (≤ 4.14 mg/kg/min, highest IR).
CVD risk profile was worse in T2 and T3 vs T1. eGDR tertiles were independently associated with micro- and macroalbuminuria and the albuminuric DKD phenotypes (albuminuria with preserved or reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate eGFR) as well as with eGFR categories or the nonalbuminuric DKD phenotype. Over a 7.4-year follow-up, unadjusted death rates and mortality risks increased progressively across eGDR tertiles, but remained significantly elevated after adjustment only in T3 vs T1 (age- and gender- adjusted death rate, 22.35 vs 16.74 per 1000 person-years, p < 0.0001, and hazard ratio HR adjusted for multiple confounders including DKD, 1.140 95% confidence interval CI, 1.049-1.238, p = 0.002). However, eGDR was independently associated with mortality in participants with no DKD (adjusted HR, 1.214 95% CI, 1.072-1.375, p = 0.002) and in those with nonalbuminuric DKD (1.276 1.034-1.575, p = 0.023), but not in those with the albuminuric DKD phenotypes. Moreover, the association was stronger in males and in younger individuals and was observed in those without but not with prior CVD, though interaction was significant only for age.
The proxy of insulin sensitivity eGDR predicts all-cause mortality in type 2 diabetes, independent of confounders including DKD. However, the impact of IR in individuals with albuminuric DKD may be mediated by its relationship with albuminuria.
ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT00715481, retrospectively registered 15 July 2008.
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